​Recently Tyler and I went to Calgary to attend The Post Forum Conference. This two day conference was filled with a tonne of speakers and great insights. Social media is a difficult topic to find info on because it’s still relatively new and also it evolves very quickly. The best part of this experience was sharing stories with other people in the industry and learning from their successes. Here are some of our big takeaways.

​Quality > Quantity

For a long time the popular philosophy on social media was post, post, post. The more the better. This can keep you top of mind but it’s also kind of annoying, not to mention time consuming. It’s become more important to put out content that people want to see and that has value to them.

We stand by our three focuses with all of our clients: educate, inspire and entertain.

​It’s difficult to just sell things to people on social media, although it’s a marketing platform for businesses, it’s still a social network for users.

​Video in 2018

​A really surprising and awesome part of the conference was the high level of emotionally charged speakers. The power of storytelling and raw sharing was pretty next level. Connection comes through our emotions and that is why the best of the best understand how to relate using video.

​If you are not using video or live video in 2018 as part of your social media plan, you will be losing in the new year.

​The ability to explore your brand’s personality through interviews, visuals and dialogues is critical. We work with a lot of people and help coach them with video. People ask us all the time what the key to being great on camera is and the answer is practice. Just get on camera.

​Being Vulnerable

​One of the things I love the most is when people talk about putting yourself out there. Just be authentic they say, be real. But what the hell does that even mean? Recording a video or being on film is super scary because you are subjecting yourself to an unknown audience.

​That’s terrifying when you really think about it.

​But here is the cool part, the more you can relax and really share with your audience who you are, the more you will attract the customers who will genuinely appreciate how you do business. There may be people who don’t like the content you put out, but they probably aren’t your customers anyway, so speak to the ones who are.

One of our favorite speakers from the conference @foodbymaria spoke to us fearlessly about her journey, dropped a few F bombs and lit up the room with her honesty.

Every person and brand has to find their comfort level with this type of vulnerability. One technique a few people shared was referring to your online persona in the third person or using a prop, like a headband, the way Greg from @justinandgreg uses to switch into character. ​

​Think of any story you tell and how you will edit that story differently for your mom, your best friend or your kid. All of those stories are genuine but you tailor them for a specific audience. That’s the trick of social media storytelling, knowing who you are speaking to and just being yourself. Sounds easy, right?

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Created by Tyler B. and Tyler H. We are just two guys who love making content and helping people with their social media. Enjoy!

Thanks for capturing this guys. Great read. Oh and small edit, it's actually a *tennisband.

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Created by T Squared Social. We are a Saskatoon based social media agency with a focus on education, content creation and management. We love making great content and helping people with their social media.